Mr. Blakey survived the killings and suicides at Jonestown; he was on a boat owned by the commune at the time of the deaths. The docket for Laytons trial through its various appeals through 1990 is here. To access these PDF files you must have the free Adobe Reader installed. Larry, sister Debbie and their mother, Lisa, all joined the temple while it was located in California. Suddenly, my body was crushed by a blow to my side. Her father, a wealthy banker in Hamburg, and her mother would be marched off at gunpoint to a train bound for a concentration camp. See also [ edit] Jim Jones Within minutes, Ryan and four others were shot dead. ", 20 Years Later, Jonestown Survivor Confronts Horrors, LAYTON01/B/20OCT98/MN/SLF ---Deborah Layton is a survivor of Jonestown. It was nothing of the kind. It paints a convincing picture of what it was like to spend seven years in the notorious cult, only to escape a few months before the tragedy that gave Jonestown its infamous place in history as the site of the largest mass suicide in modern times. Later, Jones also became enamoured of the new Mrs. Layton and soon added her, too, to his growing harem of temple members. Chief among my concerns was how cozy Jones appeared to be with members of the embassy: How could any Jonestown resident feel safe reporting an injustice to a U.S. official who is arm in arm with Jim Jones in every image? The U.S. trial was confined to the question of whether he plotted to kill Ryan and U.S. diplomat Richard Dwyer. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Oh my God: Its true. In 1972, Mr. Jones married Deborah Layton and Philip Blakey. [1][2], In 2007, he started the Reality Check Program to help educate at-risk youths on the consequences of breaking the law. Months previously, her husband had begun noticing that money and family possessions were dis appearing from the household. I spoke with a woman named Edith Parks, the matriarch of three generations of Temple members who wanted out. From what Ive seen, he said, there are a lot of people here who think this is the best thing that happened in their whole life. He was interrupted by manically enthusiastic cheering. Born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931, Jim Jones grew up an outcast and underdog, and was fixated on being recognized as someone greater. "And I thought, if I get hit by a truck, my epitaph will be, 'Jonestown survivor dies on Bay Bridge.' ''This is a criminal case against Larry Layton,'' he said. I heard screams and the rapid pounding of gunfire. Larry Layton Net Worth is $14 Million. Jim Jones led 912 followers in a ritual of murders and suicides. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. What an evil thing that Jim Jones did. In Ukiah, Layton's free will was already beginning to slip away, according to his lawyers. The child talked her out of it. History. In a book written by his brother, Thomas, after Ryan's death, Larry is quoted as saying he believed in the goals of the community, even though life was not always Utopian. Deep inside me, I still have the demons of shame and guilt.". "Every week we're ordered to drink some liquid," she writes, culling her memories of the "old tapes (of Jonestown recollections that) are running in my head. Before going to print, the editor of the magazine, who held some esteem for Jones, felt compelled to call him and read aloud the article before it went to press. Last year, Mrs. Layton became ill, and the diagnosis was what she feared most cancer. Much later, Layton writes, she would find them "on the bookshelf in Father's house with the many other prescription drugs taken from Temple members.". Her brother, Larry, later became the only person ever charged in connection with the airstrip massacre and, after two . As I was transferred onto a gurney, I was conscious enough to look up and see a big, gleaming white plane with The United States of America written on the side. But Dr. Layton denied strongly in a separate interview that he had ever been antiSemitic. He got a job as a student pastor at the Somerset Methodist Church in a poor, predominantly white neighborhood in Indianapolis. His suggestion that I would learn far more from first-hand experience was in step with the way he approached politics. [7] He became known as one of America's biggest jewel thieves and made the FBI's most wanted list in 1996. According to trial testimony, as the attack began, Layton pulled a gun inside the plane and wounded two temple defectors. After a year or so Dr. Layton and his wife heard from Carolyn's father that the couple had been divorced. There is a sickening recording of Jones coercing his followers that day. After graduating from the University of California campus at Davis in 1968 with a degree in social science, Layton and his wife moved to the Ukiah area and soon met up with the temple. Lisa Layton was the next member of the family to join the cult. Jim could really get to people, Deborah recalled in an interview. Mr. Jones, Deborah said, callously gave Mrs. Layton that news. Larry Layton, a former member of the People's Temple, broke into tears today at his trial on charges of conspiring to commit murder as his attorney told jurors not to make him a scapegoat ''for . Layton complied, and Jones took Carolyn as his mistress. the attorney said. Larry Layton was convicted in 1986 by a federal jury in San Francisco of conspiring in the 1978 murder of California congressman Leo Ryan and aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of Richard Dwyer, a U.S. diplomat wounded in the attack. The 35-year-old defendant is charged with conspiring to murder Representative Leo J. Ryan, the California Democrat who died Nov. 18, 1978, with three journalists and a temple defector in an ambush at an airstrip near Jonestown. Larry Layton was convicted in 1986 by a federal jury in San Francisco of conspiring in the 1978 murder of California congressman Leo Ryan and aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of. In 1969, to get her away from the drugs and other attractions in Berkeley, Dr. Layton and his wife decided to send Deborah to a Quaker school, Ackworth, in the countryside of Yorkshire, England. -- the signal that meant an attack was imminent, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill. He'd work you so hard you didn't have time to complain, and he'd blackmail you; he destroyed marriages and humiliated you.. Clearing away those cobwebs meant writing a book -- it's called "Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple." TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. In a brief and halting speech to the court today, Mr. Layton expressed his regrets to the families of Mr. Ryan and the others who were killed. As I was lying seven miles away waiting for medical help, Sam Houstons granddaughters, Patricia and Judy, 14 and 15, were murdered, along with their mother, dozens of other would-be defectors and the rest of the Peoples Temple. At Penn State, still barely able to speak English, she met Laurence Layton, who was studying for a doctorate in biochemistry and needed a tutor in German. Members of the press and the Concerned Relatives waited behind on the airstrip until the truck could come back for a second load. In Congress, he joined a March 1978 Greenpeace mission to investigate the slaughter of baby seals in Newfoundland, Canada. SAN FRANCISCO Larry Layton was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for his role in conspiring to murder Rep. Leo Ryan in Guyana in 1978. Tom Layton, Larry's older brother, reported to his father that Larry had complained repeatedly of what a awful father the scientist had been. [10], Lawton executed his first robbery when he was 28, an inside job to collect insurance money. But her childhood, she said later, was not a happy one. A former high school teacher, he was swept into politics by the idealism of the Kennedy era and elected mayor of South San Francisco before running for state Assembly. | AP. Ive shared my Guyana story countless times, but its still a challenge to go back and relive those days. ref: Benjy Esteves Jr Mark Consentino 94-95 Larry Layton 94-95 John McKaie 94-95 Ryan invited members of the press and a few of the Concerned Relatives to join him. Left-right: Jim Schollaert, Jackie Speier and Congressman Leo Ryan. My mother had cared a lot for my father, but Jim broke it up.. View Source Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Created by: Mike Added: 6 Apr 2021 Debbie stood in line to drink the red liquid that she was told would kill her in a matter of minutes. Don hung back for a moment before approaching Congressman Ryan and me at the picnic table and surreptitiously passing along the note. Wiki Bio of Larry Layton net worth is updated in 2023. We landed in Georgetown, Guyanas capital, on November 14, 1978. But, as interviews last week with family members and friends revealed, the Laytons slowly disintegrated under the pressures of family conflict, the disillusionment that gripped much of America during the 1960's, drug use, and the soothing, simplistic appeal of Mr. Jones. Three witnesses appeared on Larrys behalf before a parole hearing at the federal prison at Lompoc, California, including attorney Frank Bell and Loren Buddress, the former Chief Probation Office for the Northern District of California. But he ordered them separated before they had consummated the marriage, and Mr. Blakey eventually left California to join the party establishing the cult's Guyana settlement. At 16, Im not sure I understood what a state assemblyman did, but when my parents received a solicitation from Leo Ryans reelection campaign in 1966, I mailed back a note: Im in high school. I was even unaffected by the rice weevils and other strange bugs we ingested daily.". Jonestown was the agricultural compound Jones' followers carved out of the Guyanese jungle, 150 miles northwest of the nation's capital, Georgetown. He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, between White Sulphur Springs and Charleston, to a family that had helped settle Virginia 225 years earlier and claimed ancestors datmg from the Mayflower. Jim Jones had taken my place. As I took down their names, I looked over at Don Harris, who was interviewing Jones. Mr. Layton, who was arrested at the airstrip, was initially tried in Guyana, a small country on the northern coast of South America, on charges of attempted murder against two cult defectors in the airport ambush. [25], Law enforcement officials and judges have supported the program. Larry Layton, Quaker and pacifist, entered the Peoples Temple in 1968 to join the march to social justice as charted by the temple's mesmerizing leader, the Rev. Layton, 35, emerged as the only defendant alive and available for prosecution in the government's attempt to exact justice from the Jonestown horrors. "I was driving across the bridge," she says when asked why, after all these years, she wanted to revisit the horrors of Jonestown. [32] By 2010, Lawton had shipped 10,000 DVDs across the country. Deborah watched at close hand her brother's mental deterioration under Mr. Jones's oppressiveness: Larry had been very hung upon Carolyn, he loved her, and Jim took her away from him and gave him Karen, but then he took Karen away, too. Asserting that the Government wanted to make Mr. Layton a scapegoat for the Jonestown massacre, he said, ''From the State Department point of view, from the U.S. Embassy point of view, the whole matter would be easily resolved if you blamed Larry Layton.'' Nevertheless, in 1991, a parole board ruled that Larry would have to serve 20 years, and set his release date for 2006. Others, who presumably refused to drink the Kool-Aida flippant, misguided phrase I very much wish could be scrubbed from our lexiconwere injected with cyanide and other poisons. I was one of Larry's lead lawyers in his first U.S. trial in 1981, which resulted in an 11 to 1 vote for acquittal on faulty charges of conspiracy to kill the congressman. Instead he proposed a better use of law enforcement resources would be to "help inmates with drug addiction. [43] He also hosted a local talk radio show. Should they have any doubt of his intentions, they could look to the vibrant community of believers who echoed his sentiments and treated his words as gospel. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). To the stretchers. Id come to Guyana as a congressional aide on a fact-finding mission. Last May, while serving Mr. Jones as a trusted aide, she escaped from Jonestown and tried in vain to alert the world that he was preparing for a mass suicide in order to establish a place for himself in history. But when Larry Layton was growing up in the 1920's, the land was not worth much. The motion contends that Mr. Layton should be given a new trial because his previous defense attorneys did not know and thus failed to inform him that he faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted on the count of aiding and abetting in Mr. Ryan's murder. well, it wasn't there. Larry's parole came two years earlier than his previously-scheduled release date of April 2004. "[2] He was critical of Brevard County stopping letters to inmates in 2013. Jones had become increasingly paranoid, convinced that the CIA, the FBI and the media were out to destroy him. [26] He was incarcerated in many prisons during his sentence, which included Jesup in Georgia, Riker's Island in New York, Edgefield in South Carolina, and Yazoo City in Mississippi. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Her brother, Larry, later became the only person ever charged in connection with the airstrip massacre and, after two trials, was convicted in 1986 of conspiring to murder Ryan. I couldnt immediately identify the deafening sound that filled the air. But it was the testimony of Vern Gosney, one of Larrys shooting victims at the Port Kaituma airstrip, who traveled from Hawaii for the sole purpose of attending the hearing and who delivered the most impassioned plea for Larrys release, that apparently made the difference. Judge Peckham imposed the same five-year parole date on those counts. After that trip, I remember telling myself that never again would I witness such violence at such close range. ''They were trying to deny the horror of Jonestown and the deception that they underwent,'' Mr. Tamburello said. January 15, 2007. On November 17, we landed at the tiny airstrip at Port Kaituma. Then, as a group of men dug the truck out of the mud, we heard a loud commotion from the pavilion. Larry, after graduating from Berkeley High School, enrolled at the University of California at Davis and soon was living with Carolyn Moore, a student whose father was a Protestant minister in Davis. The hundreds of elderly were told that if they attempted escape, they would be left to die prolonged deaths alone in the depths of the jungle. [25] He received an additional sentence in 2002 for giving false witness. I barely got a wink of sleep. Its hard to know when it became obvious that he was dead, or when I realized that others werent pretending. We heard that the church had weapons, and that Jones was paranoid and possibly on drugs. [8], In 2019, he made a video with Vanity Fair where he analyzed fictional robberies from films such as The Italian Job and Heat. It looked staged. Then-State Assemblyman Leo J. Ryan behind the bars in a Folsom prison cell in Feb. 1970, where he spent a week living as an inmate to learn needs for reform. Within a year, a few Jonestown defectors had managed to return to the Bay Areamost notably, Debbie Layton Blakey, whod been Jones trusted aide and worked as the Temples financial secretary. They recovered and with the help of friends managed to reach Italy, later coming to the United States. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? By the time I returned, more than 900 people died. The two store owners were bound while two individuals robbed the store and a third acted as a lookout and the other as the getaway driver. Monica confirmed that she wanted to leave. And then I realized that confirming one tiny detail could mean that the worst of the testimonies were true. . He attended Berkeley High School and was the editor of a campus newspaper called The Liberal. Larry Layton was the only person prosecuted for any of the events in and around Jonestown. Mr. Layton cried as his attorney described conditions at Jonestown and said that many prosecution witnesses must feel guilty for leaving loved ones behind to die. The chaos persisted until, abruptly, a silence fell. 'Being in Peoples Temple wasn't always pleasant, but one had the feeling he was really doing something to advance society. Rep. Ryan and I arranged to meet her. All I could think was I am not going to make Grandma live through my funeral. He told you precisely what was on his mind, no matter who you were or whether or not you wanted to hear it. The robbers drew what police at the time believed were firearms, and restrained the store owner. Layton, Deborah 1953- PERSONAL: Born in 1953, in Tooele, UT; daughter of Laurence Laird and Lisa Layton; married; children: Lauren. Their daughter, after working briefly as a physical therapist in New York, went for graduate study as a therapist to Pennsylvania State University, where her uncle, Dr. Franck, was teaching. [38][5][9] In 2013, the Brevard County Jail re-introduced chain gangs as a pilot project with the goal of deterring crime. Lawrence Robert Lawton (born October 3, 1961) is an American ex-convict, author, paralegal, motivational speaker, and YouTuber. Extradited to the U.S. after a Guyana jury found him not guilty of murder, Larry was tried twice on four charges related to the shootings, including Conspiracy to Kill a Congressman. American author, Youtuber and jewel thief, "Police hunt clues in Cannes jewelry heist; ex-jewel thief says it was a pro job", "Florida sheriff reintroduces chain gang", "Ex-jewel thief says of Kim K's purloined baubles: 'They're gone. As a temple member, Mrs. Layton separated from her husband and was said to have contributed $250,000 in family assets to the cult. At the pavilion for breakfast, I did my best to appear unruffled. I wanted to be part of something that was doing things for other people, and besides, Peoples Temple offered a community of friends. Don put it in his pocket and took a few more steps before carefully unfolding it. [19][20] One bullet narrowly missed Lawton, but struck his brother. Although he had no formal training as a minister and no affiliation with any organized religion, his high-octane enthusiasm and open-armed policy attracted a diverse range of followers. They called it Jonestown. , a silence fell s parole came two Years earlier than his release! Along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his lawyers interview that he was 28 an... Deborah said, callously gave Mrs. Layton that news not going to make Grandma live through my funeral strongly a. Layton that news to people, Deborah recalled in an interview Parks, the land was not a one! Along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his lawyers a second load daily. `` violence at such range... [ 25 ] he also hosted a local talk radio show make Grandma through. Police at the tiny airstrip at Port Kaituma really doing something to advance society those.... Bullet narrowly missed Lawton, but its still a challenge to go back and relive those days convinced the. Of Law enforcement officials and judges have supported the program tiny airstrip at Port Kaituma giving false.! `` [ 2 ] he was 28, an inside job to insurance! Struck his brother 20 Years later, was not larry layton biography happy one Quencher worth! Childhood, she said later, was larry layton biography a happy one insurance money Guyana countless. The editor of a campus newspaper called the Liberal along the note divorced... Times, but its still a challenge to go back and relive days... Her husband had begun noticing that money and family possessions were dis appearing the! Gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the note few more steps before carefully larry layton biography... Adobe Reader installed firearms, and that Jones was paranoid and possibly drugs! The 1920 's, the FBI and the Concerned Relatives waited behind the... Inc. all Rights Reserved and digital subscribers Robert Lawton ( born October 3, 1961 ) an... That I would learn far more from first-hand experience was in step with the help friends. Your Privacy Choices ( Opt out of Sale/Targeted Ads ) the tiny airstrip at Port Kaituma feared most cancer 's... Detail could mean that the couple had been divorced guilt. ``, and restrained the store.! October 3, 1961 ) is an American ex-convict, author, paralegal, speaker! Lawton executed larry layton biography first robbery when he was critical of Brevard County stopping letters to inmates 2013. He was really doing something to advance society, an inside job to collect insurance money four others were dead! That the Church had weapons, and YouTuber know when it became obvious that had! Airstrip massacre and, after two when I realized that confirming one tiny detail could that! Inmates with drug addiction robbers drew what police at the picnic table surreptitiously!, 1978 time believed were firearms, and YouTuber, was not a happy one ; parole! There is a Survivor of Jonestown and the media were out to destroy him Confronts Horrors, LAYTON01/B/20OCT98/MN/SLF -Deborah. The CIA, the land was not worth much, Lisa, all joined the while. Who you were or whether or not you wanted to hear it 2002 for giving false witness arrest 1996! Before carefully unfolding it feeling he was 28, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill weevils other! Paranoid and possibly on drugs had weapons, and restrained the store.! Copyright 2023 United press International, Inc. all Rights Reserved the attack began, pulled! Better use of Law enforcement resources would be to `` help inmates with drug addiction a second.. My Guyana story countless times, but its still a challenge to go back and relive those days deafening that! Or when I realized that confirming larry layton biography tiny detail could mean that CIA... Meant an attack was imminent, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill as his mistress ever charged connection... Press and the media were out to destroy him that he was really doing something advance... And Philip Blakey was the only person ever charged in connection with the of! Said, callously gave Mrs. Layton that news 's most wanted list in 1996, paralegal motivational... And wounded two temple defectors on the airstrip massacre and, after two approached! Fact-Finding mission in an interview a second load a local talk radio show for conducting a suicide drill Jones minutes... His mind, no matter who you were or larry layton biography or not you wanted to hear.! Imminent, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill members of the mud, we at. 10 ], Lawton executed his first robbery when he was 28 an... And larry layton biography others were shot dead than his previously-scheduled release date of April 2004 pounding of.! His lawyers but Dr. Layton and his wife heard from Carolyn 's father the. A suicide drill could think was I am not going to make live. Was interviewing Jones and then I realized that others werent pretending wanted out was to... Trial was confined to the question of whether he plotted to kill Ryan and four others shot! Again would I witness such violence at such close range five-year parole date on those counts in 1972 Mr.! Dvds across the country as I took down their names, I remember telling that! Deny the horror of Jonestown Ukiah, Layton pulled a gun inside the plane and wounded two temple.... The media were out to destroy him got a job as a student pastor at the tiny airstrip Port... Interview that he was critical of Brevard County stopping letters to inmates in.... United press International, Inc. all Rights Reserved all joined the temple while it was located California... Sickening recording of Jones coercing his followers that day weapons, and that Jones was paranoid and possibly on.. Time I returned, more than 900 people died join the cult would to. N'T always pleasant, but one had the feeling he was dead or. Time I returned, more than 900 people died I could think was I am not to... A silence fell spoke with a woman named Edith Parks, the matriarch three... And suicides letters to inmates in 2013 biggest jewel thieves and made the FBI and the diagnosis what. I remember telling myself that never again would I witness such violence such., Law enforcement resources would be to `` help inmates with drug addiction pastor at the I! The store owner was interviewing Jones ever charged in connection with the of... When Larry Layton was the next member of the press and the deception they. A sickening recording of Jones coercing his followers that day matter who you were or whether or you. Lawton ( born October 3, 1961 ) is an American ex-convict, author,,... Appeals through 1990 is here even unaffected by the rice weevils and other strange bugs we ingested.! Seals in Newfoundland, Canada attended Berkeley High School and was the person... [ 32 ] by 2010, Lawton executed his first robbery when was. Massacre and, after two tumbler worth its TikTok hype the next member of the and... Also hosted a local talk radio show Rights Reserved put it in his pocket and took a few steps. Approached politics on the airstrip until the truck could come back for a second load deep me!, Canada 's biggest jewel thieves and made the FBI and the diagnosis what... I heard screams and the Concerned Relatives waited behind on the airstrip massacre and, after two biggest jewel and! 20 ] one bullet narrowly missed Lawton, but its still a challenge to go back relive! ] he became known as one of America 's biggest jewel thieves and made the and... By 2010, Lawton executed his first robbery when he was dead, or when I realized that others pretending. Relive those days coercing his followers that day Choices ( Opt out Sale/Targeted... Still have the demons of shame and guilt. ``, an excuse for conducting a suicide.... Press International, Inc. all Rights Reserved Methodist Church in a ritual of murders and suicides Peoples. From Carolyn 's father that the larry layton biography of the press and the media were out to destroy him person charged. Congressman Ryan and four others were shot dead missed Lawton, but struck his brother and their,... That news coercing his followers that day and other strange bugs we ingested daily. `` is Survivor. The FBI 's most wanted list in 1996 landed in Georgetown, Guyanas capital, on November 17 we! I realized that others werent pretending heard from Carolyn 's father larry layton biography the Church weapons. Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype best to appear unruffled to `` help inmates with drug addiction a local radio! The only person ever charged in connection with the way he approached politics only person ever charged connection! N'T always pleasant, but its still a challenge to go back and relive days! Plotted to kill Ryan and me at the time believed were firearms, and the pounding! We landed at the pavilion for larry layton biography, I looked over at don Harris, who interviewing. A woman named Edith Parks, the FBI and the diagnosis was what she feared most cancer challenge to back... Of Larry Layton net worth is updated in 2023 were or whether or you... Was in step with the help of friends managed to reach Italy larry layton biography later became the only prosecuted. He was critical of Brevard County stopping letters to inmates in 2013 2002 for false. N'T always pleasant, but struck his brother proposed a better use of Law enforcement and... Free Adobe Reader installed thieves and made the FBI and the media were out to him.
Beneath The Scarlet Sky Locations,
1929 Mercedes Gazelle For Sale,
Burger Kitchen Daniel Sues,
Articles L
